Chrysler Considers Selling the Dodge Viper

[David]

According to Autoweek

[The359]

If they sold it, it'd be in name only, as the car itself is already outdated and anyone who bought it would likely just build a new "Viper" in their own design.

[Sarthe82]

Originally Posted by Autoweek

The company said on Wednesday that it is "exploring strategic options for the Dodge Viper business."

"This strategic review comes as the company focuses on enhancing its core business and leveraging its assets," Chrysler said in a statement.

Putting that into into plain English from Corpyspeak..."We're up to our neck in debt from years of selling stupid, innapropriate and lazily designed junk and the only way I'm gonna get some black ink on the balance sheet (and keep my job) is to sell stuff, pronto! Have pity, please!"

Sad but true.

[Truckosaurus]

Originally Posted by The359

If they sold it, it'd be in name only, as the car itself is already outdated and anyone who bought it would likely just build a new "Viper" in their own design.

Or it could be like Caterham buying the rights to the Lotus Seven and continuing to build the same car but with modest evolutions for many years.

Actually, and I'm sure some of the older listeners will confirm, Caterham revived the previous series3 Seven rather than the ugly as sin series4.

[The Badger]

Be nice to see Oreca buy it ..... and build a proper GT car outta the CC .

[Aslak Vind]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Be nice to see Oreca buy it ..... and build a proper GT car outta the CC .

OHHHHHHHH

In white, blue and red!

[The Badger]

Nope ..... my favourite was the Canaska Southwind cars , white with 2 green stripes .

[dxk1]

Well VW has been buying up brands and putting them on the track (Audi, Lamborghini, etc.) and Porsche owns a good high % of VW, so maybe they can buy the Viper brand and bring it back to where it was in the early part of the century with all their racing experience. Would love to see a competitive Viper back on the track in GT1 or GT2 to give everyone a good run.

DK

[supercarS7]

Are they losing money on them? They sell all of their allotment, or so I've been told, every year.

[The359]

Originally Posted by Aslak Vind

OHHHHHHHH

In white, blue and red!

Someone actually runs that old Oreca scheme on a Viper CC in Speed GT.

[Truckosaurus]

Originally Posted by dxk1

Well VW has been buying up brands and putting them on the track (Audi, Lamborghini, etc.)

And, of course, the original Viper was developed when Chrysler and Lambo were in league with each other (same parent company?) and the Lambo boys helped tweak the V10 from its humble pickup truck roots into something more suitable.

[Fogelhund]

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=751971

Potential buyers for Viper could include custom-made sports-car builders such as Panoz Auto Development Co. or a private investor interested in auto racing, said Jim Gillette, an analyst at CSM Worldwide.

The brand could fetch about US$100-million, CSM analysts estimated.

[The359]

I guess they need something to replace the Esperante since the Abruzzi never arrived.